3 smuggling suspects are on trial in Mexico

U.S. must wait its turn in Victoria deaths case

EDWARD HEGSTROM and DUDLEY ALTHAUS, Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Published
5:30 am CST, Thursday, March 18, 2004

A Brownsville woman accused of playing a key role in the smuggling operation that led to the deaths last year of 19 immigrants near Victoria is now being prosecuted in Mexico, which temporarily will prevent her from standing trial in the United States.

Emma Sapata Rodriguez, 57, and 13 other defendants stand accused in Mexico City of organized crime and people trafficking, both federal offenses in Mexico. Three of those now on trial in Mexico, including Rodriguez, also are under federal indictment in Houston for their alleged roles in the Victoria deaths.

U.S. officials say they have reluctantly agreed to wait for the three to be tried in Mexico, instead of fighting for their immediate extradition to the United States.

"We obviously would prefer to have those accused prosecuted here, where the event occurred," said Michael Shelby, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas. Shelby said he could more strongly prosecute the three because he has the best evidence and most of the witnesses.

American prosecutors and Mexican officials attempted to negotiate informally to have Rodriguez extradited to stand trial in the United States, but the talks broke down partly because of disagreement over the death penalty, Shelby said.

If extradited to the United States and convicted in court here, Rodriguez could potentially face a sentence of life in prison or death. In Mexico, she faces a sentence of 10 to 28 years if convicted on both counts, court officials in Mexico City said.

The Mexican constitution forbids the death penalty, and the Mexican government routinely refuses extradition in cases where capital punishment is a possibility.

Shelby said having the three fugitives tried in Mexico was better than not having them tried at all. But he noted that they probably would receive harsher punishment if tried in Texas.

"I believe we could obtain a measure of justice here in the Southern District of Texas that would not be possible elsewhere," he said.

Tyrone Williams, who drove the tractor trailer that authorities say was used in the fatal transport of the immigrants, faces the death penalty in the U.S. case.

Officials in the Mexican attorney general's office would not comment on the prosecution against Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen, is part of a family that smuggled immigrants across the Rio Grande and then hid them in Brownsville-area "drop houses" until they could be taken further north, according to the U.S. federal indictment. Some of the immigrants loaded into the truck that stopped near Victoria had been brought across the border and housed by the Rodriguez family, authorities say.

Rodriguez's husband and son also have been indicted in the Victoria case. Her husband, Victor Rodriguez Sanchez, remains a fugitive. Her son, Victor Jesus Rodriguez, is in federal custody in Houston awaiting trial.

Emma and Victor Rodriguez disappeared after the tractor trailer that authorities believe carried more than 70 immigrants was discovered near Victoria on May 14. Seventeen migrants were dead when police arrived; another two died later at a hospital.

Emma Rodriguez was arrested Sept. 5 in Matehuala, a town in northern Mexico along the Pan American highway that is a popular overnight stop for motorists heading from the border into central and southern Mexico.

Mexican officials conducted their own investigation after the Victoria incident, resulting in several arrests. As a result, 14 people now are being tried on human smuggling charges before Judge Hector Lara Gonzalez of the 11th Federal District Court in Mexico City. Criminal trials in Mexico are closed-chamber affairs decided by a judge who reviews depositions and other documents presented by both the prosecution and the defense.

The trial has drawn little attention in Mexico.

The 14 defendants face charges that they participated in a smuggling ring that officials say funneled undocumented immigrants into Texas, some of whom died in Victoria. They aren't being tried in connection with the deaths themselves.

"We have nothing to do with what happened in the trailer," one official close to the case said, on condition his name not be used. "The fact we are trying them is not directly tied to the dead people."

But Julio Edgar Monroy Millan, the Mexican attorney representing Rodriguez, said it was his understanding that if the defendants are found guilty of trafficking undocumented immigrants, they might then face charges related to the deaths in Victoria.

"The (Mexican) criminal code says that our country can prosecute cases where Mexican nationals are killed," even if the death occurs outside Mexican territory, Monroy Millan said.

The indictment filed by federal prosecutors in Houston also names 14 defendants. Most face a maximum of life in prison.

Nine of the 14 defendants are in custody, and trials are expected to begin in May. Besides the three defendants now on trial in Mexico, two others are fugitives.

Competing prosecutions -- where U.S. and Mexican officials each attempt to prosecute defendants accused of the same cross-border crimes -- are increasingly common, Shelby and others say. Shelby noted the move is most often seen in drug cases.

Bruce Zagaris, a Washington, D.C., lawyer specializing in international law, agreed that it is becoming routine for two countries to prosecute the same people for the same crimes, a trend he said reflects a globalized world where criminals work across borders.

Zagaris said Mexico, like many countries, remains reluctant to extradite accused criminals to the United States because of the death penalty and other harsh sentences.

"The rest of the world has shorter sentences," he noted. "The U.S. is increasingly having trouble getting cooperation from other countries."